SW: Return of the ninjA
by ANBUszechuane
Summary: Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto are sent on a mission to kill Kabuto and help fire country, but they meet someone far more dangerous then Kabuto, and an unexpected help arrives just in time. SasuSaku, slight NaruHina. Slight SW parody.
1. Chapter one

**This is the first of probably six chapters. Its also my first fanfic, so please read and review! **

**Please tell me if u liked or disliked something, it helps! **

**-ANBUszechuane**

We are in the greatest war mankind has ever experienced. The hidden city of Konoha has dispatched a team of three Yedi in a attempt to save the southern rim of the fire country.

The team exists of Kakashi, a highly respected Yedi master, with his padawan's Sakura and Naruto. And their mission is to fend of the Sith lord Kabuto and his troops.

-----

Naruto is a little noisy for a Yedi, but compensates with huge force control. Next to him is Sakura, who is a more of a balanced fighter.

They can already see the battle from afar, bright light is visible at the horizon, and even though it is night it still looks like dawn.

The cool fresh air blows trough Sakura's hair as she sits at the side of their vehicle, they are flying low so that they don't get detected. Witch Naruto clearly appreciates, he has been screaming "Faster! Faster!" into Kakashi's ear for the past 15 minutes

Not paying much attention to Naruto Sakura keeps staring into the night sky. How long has it been since Sasuke left them? About a year or two, but she lost count of the days.

The last thing he sad to her was thank you, but Sakura had faith, that that wasn't what he had intended to say. She had found marks of tears on the coat he had left her under when she woke up next morning.

Smiling into the distance she gripped her lightsabre tightly, knowing that one day, she would bring him back, and never let him go again.

"Something wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, taking a seat next to her.

"No, nothing." She said with a smile, and standing up. "How's Hinata?" She asked.

(I'm not going to write down the complete conversation because Naruto used about twice the words necessary, and what it meant was "I love her but wont tell anyone, not even you" and we can all imagine how it went.)

'Yo' Indicated that Kakashi had entered the compartment.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, how long until we get there?!" Naruto screamed into his face, receiving a slightly dangerous glance of Sakura while doing so.

"Well Naruto, well be there in about five minutes so I want to explain why we are here. In the first place, as you already know, because we have to stop General Kabuto from taking over the part of Fire country territory. But also because we have to enter their main battle cruiser before it retreats into space."

At this Naruto fell silent, he háted space travel.

"Why do we have to do that?" Sakura asked., for she didn't mind at all.

"Well, its secret so I'm not allowed to tell you before we are onboard and on our way." Kakashi replied with his usual blink of the eye.

"But I can tell you this; you're not going to like it!" With this he was clearly enjoying himself.

Only seconds later the shuttle crashed onto the water and glided over it leaving a tree tall splash behind it.

Kakashi already had taken off his protector and activated his sharingan, for future sight, extra reaction, and of course full force ability's.

Seeing this Naruto and Sakura quickly drew their sabres, knowing that this move usually spelled danger.

And how right they were!

As soon as they hit the shore they jumped out of the plane, witch was struck by a plasma cannon almost as they did.

They were immediately surrounded and fired at by close to two hundred droids, well.. the exact number was 213, but as only kakashi's eye could see this it didn't matter much.

Sakura just shielded herself, while Naruto already had engaged the first row of droids. They were straight in front of him and coming at him in lined formations.

Naruto jumped over them setting off for an attack as soon as he hit the ground behind them. They never knew what hit them, quickly swinging his sword round twice to the left and blasting the five droids on his right Naruto took them down in about two seconds.

At this moment the heavy artillery entered the fight, witch placed the three in a tight spot, for there was no other place to run but the ocean behind them. But Kakashi already had called in air support, arriving just in time to blast them a path to higher ground.

Naruto and Sakura quickly entered the radar facility stationed there, followed by Kakashi who provided them cover.

Inside Naruto gripped Kakashi's arm, "What do we do now? They are everywhere!"

Kakashi replied; "Of course they are everywhere! Where do you think we are? You'd better.."

BANG!!!

"Kakashi-sensei!" They heard Sakura scream trough the dust cloud that appeared out of nowhere. Both of them raced into it finding her lying under a concrete column, bleeding from her left arm.

At the same moment the droids arrived.

"Damn those bastards" Grunted Naruto, storming into the entrance hall and with a quick dash taking out three droids after witch he pushed off hard, flying trough the room. Blocking the attacks and kicking off from the ceiling he landed next to the control panel. Instantly throwing the switch on 'close gate' and reengaging the droids.

Kakashi had freed Sakura from the column and joined in from the other side, finishing the fight almost as quickly as it started.

Sakura joined them again; "Where are we going now sensei?"

"That depends, how is your arm?"

"I'm fine, its not broken, just injured. And I can wield my sabre with my other hand as well."

Kakashi smiled, Sakura had become tough since Sasuke left and he was proud of her progress.

"Allright then, lets see if there is something flyable in this building."

They set off on a search, and Naruto found a old Airglider, witch appeared intact.

"Kakashi-sensei! I think I've got something!" He yelled trough the hall, quickly Kakashi and Sakura ran into the room. "Good job Naruto." He said with a tense face. "If this doesn't get us near their cruisers our only option is to fight our way in. So keep your sabres ready."

They seated and Kakashi activated every booster that was willing to cooperate in the entire vehicle.

"Okay, here we gooooo!" And with a earthquake like shock the Glider shot straight trough the glass ceiling. "WOoooHOOOOOO!" Naruto screamed, again receiving a scary look from Sakura.

Why cant he just be silent! Sakura thought, but inside she liked flying as much as Naruto. Maybe even more, for she didn't have trouble with space travel as well.

Beneath them lay stretched out like the depths of hell, the plains of Fire country. Now indeed burning from combat. Explosions and bright rays of light everywhere. Kakashi manoeuvred the glider trough the flames and rays with a steady hand, though even Naruto could see that he had trouble keeping the plane under control.

If there was a pilot who could have survived in that situation, it definitely was Kakashi. With his right eye closed and completely relying on his sharingan he raced over the plains. Flying at maximum speed all the way so that Naruto and Sakura could barely see anything trough the windows.

"We are almost there, ready your ejections. We're going to let the glider crash into the main power generator. And we're going to do that… NOW!"

It was done in a flash, the three were ejected into the cold night sky seconds from impact, landing on top of the repair centre.

And for a moment it was as if daybreak had already come, the entire base lit up by the fireball of the glider. But did they see it? I'm afraid not, because they had already entered the building to sabotage the emergency power equipment.

That's the downside of doing cool things, if you want to survive them you'll probably never see them.


	2. Chapter two

They had been lucky, very lucky. After they had accidentally blown up the entire repair centre they had found a transport vehicle that brought them on board of the Battle cruiser without detection, and were now hiding on board until the time of departure.

Naruto was amazed by the lightness of the ship's launch, it almost felt as if someone had just given the ship a gentle poke to fly. It was totally different from what he had expected.

The Konoha attackbreachers witch he had trained with were way more rough to fly.

Sakura didn't mind, the only thing she could think about was the pain in her arm, it had started to hurt as soon as they had boarded the ship.

"Don't mind, Sakura" Kakashi said as he noticed her pain. "Its because of the acceleration that it hurts, as soon as we are well underway it'll stop."

Of course this didn't help Sakura, but it at least explains it to the readers.

They were sitting in a small room on the lower-deck of the cruiser. Sakura, "Okey, we're on board. So, what are we going to do now Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, I guess that I can tell you now.." Kakashi said with a sigh, "Our main objective is yet to be completed, and it isn't going to be a easy job. Especially with you injured Sakura."

"Don't worry about me! I can handle!" She replied firm. "And if you'd be so friendly to tell us what it actually is what we have to do!" She continued a little angry.

Again Kakashi sighted, but came to the conclusion that he'd better tell them now since they were on board a hostile ship loaded with warfare and the speed of the operation was critical.

"Ok.. listen up you two. Kabuto isn't on board of this ship. Actually he isn't even in control of the droids. What we have to deal with here is a far greater threat then Orochimaru's Sith."

Sakura glanced at Naruto, seeing that he was as nervous as she was, and getting even more tensed because of that.

Kakashi continued; "This cruiser is one of akatsuki's. And the one controlling is none other then Uchiha Itachi." Sakura couldn't stop herself from letting out a little shriek.

And Naruto's reaction wasn't that different, accept for the total absence of self-control of course, resulting in this: "WHAT? THAT BASTARD IS ON THIS SHIP?! I'LL SHOW HIM SOME KONOHA KNUCKLES!" After witch Kakashi calmed him down, or well… almost knocked him out actually, but it resulted in the same thing anyway.

"If you are planning on fighting him you're a even greater fool then I thought Naruto. Even the Hokage doesn't stand a chance, and she and Jiraiya are considered to be the best we have!" Kakashi closed his eyes and sighted once more before continuing, "There is just one man in Konoha who could fight him on equal ground, and the problem is that's me."

Sakura looked up into his tired eye; "But, not that I think your not strong sensei, but why you?"

"His Sharingan are the problem, he'll be able to counter every move you use, and has more force then both Jiraiya and Tsunade. They'd be at the disadvantage for the very start and won't even be capable of seeing him coming at them."

After this Naruto continued arguing with Kakashi about the mission while Sakura sat at the window staring into the sky. It was getting morning, you could see a faint orange glow at the horizon. Though this didn't reach her because her thoughts were miles away. With someone called Uchiha Sasuke, the man she thought capable beating Itachi hands down.

Maybe she was thinking too much of Sasuke, but that's not that strange. Wasn't it her who had looked up against him her whole life? Old habits die hard..

When a bell rang in their room they got up quickly and made their way to the bridge. Kakashi had told them that this was the moment the ship would need most of its power to get into a steady orbit, and indeed almost every droid they met on their way was deactivated.

The rest they could pass unnoticed.

The plan was to reach the bridge undetected, lock it form the inside, kill Itachi and get the hell off the ship.

Of course some parts would be a little tricky, "but isn't anything?" Kakashi had said with a smile. He now wished he didn't have to prove that, because they reached the bridge that minute.

They entered it trough the main entrance. Running trough the open doors and throwing off their cloaks they split up, Naruto left, Kakashi centre and Sakura right.

Sakura fought with her sabre in her left hand, but this didn't break her down one bit. Tsunade would have been proud to see her fight so passionate, leaving no droid standing (at least not in one piece0 and directly closing the doors. She was ready to defend panel fiercely.

Naruto just rushed into his side screaming like a madman, anger controlled him and made his strength double. Kicking off from the panels he flew across the section, swinging at everything that moved and racing on after Kakashi when there wasn't anything that could left.

He found Kakashi Standing at a plateau, facing a dark figure he recognised wearing the akatsuki robes. A trademark of this mercenary organisation witch Naruto despised with whole his heart and soul.

Without a word, without a warning or even the smallest notion the man started to move. With such a blistering speed that Naruto's senses didn't catch one bit of it until it would have been too late. Would have, if not Kakashi had seen it, witch of course, he had.

The hit was caught by Kakashi's bright green sabre and the crack of two powers colliding made the whole ship shutter.

A huge fear struck Naruto, in a moment he realised that he could never face this man, let alone win from him. His will, nor his swordsmanship would stand a chance. The speed Kakashi and Itachi were fighting on was amazing, they didn't jump around, they tried to keep their feet to the ground. Knowing that without that grip the other would immediately strike and catch him off balance.

It had to be said, Kakashi put up a fight, he used every bit of his power. Sparks were raining down and Sakura joined Naruto.

"Cant we help him?" Naruto whispered; "No, we'd be a worry to him now.. we can only hope.."

She saw very well that though Kakashi was doing his very best Itachi was smiling. And wanted to help so badly.. she felt as useless as she did when _he_ left.

She couldn't even fight droids, the bridge was completely sealed and nothing could get in, witch frustrated her even more.

Kakashi was relying completely on his sharingan. _'left upper, left down right upper, left cross, spin, combohit'_ His eye gave the warnings almost to late, Itachi was so fast he could barely keep track.

He tried a counterattack. Swinging his sword up after a quick parade. But it was instantly blocked and he got thrown back six feet by a force wave.

Before he hit the ground Itachi had already reached him, stabbing at his legs. He kicked off to get away but was caught by his arm and dragged back. His sword knocked out of his hand and cut into pieces by Itachi.

Sakura saw it happen, and stormed at the two, but Naruto got there first swinging his sabre at Itachi with full force.

It was deflected with ease and Itachi Openly started to laugh now. "Kakashi, I thought you had trained them a little better. At least so that I could have some fun with them!"

Clearly not amused Naruto cursed and for that got hit in his face by Itachi's fist or it wasn't because of that, but the thing that matters it that he got hit.

He got hit so badly he passed out and flew into the control panels to the right of them.

It was purely accidental that he deactivated the lock on the bridge. But well.. things like that happen to Naruto, quite a lot. Usually causing him a headache that's generally provided by Sakura.

Kakashi was slammed face-down against the steel floor and thrown away by Itachi. "And now number three. I hope you can actually do something, this was just too easy."

Sakura grabbed her sabre and focused.

"Well, well, you have quite the attitude don't you? It's a pity you're injured and weak oh I'd love to see you try and fail!" At this he smirked the way only a Uchiha could and attacked her.

She tried to defend herself but lost her sword at the second stroke. Got hit by his arm and smacked to the ground. And was kicked trough the bridge like a old toy.

She hit a rail and felt a hot pain in her side and saw a growing stain on her cloth. The deep red made her feel ill and she realised that she wouldn't return. She would never see Konoha again and never see her friends and family.

Tears rolled down her face, uncontrolled. Shaking, feeling cold of fear, as Itachi drew closer breathing got hard but there was no way out.

"Well, shall we just put a end to this pathetic display? Yes, let's just do that." Saying this Itachi lifted her from the ground screaming of pain.

He smirked, "Bye" he said and threw her down again, activating his sabre. Bringing it back smoothly and swinging it down with a slight twist of his wrist.

The sabre stopped about an inch from her face.


	3. Chapter three

**In this chapter there will be a little more action, and I'm going to speed up the story a little after this. Its not long, but its my first story so the length of chapters varies a little.**

**Please read and review, haven't got many yet… :(**

------

The bridge doors slid open and a dark figure entered the bridge. Walking at them with a steady pace. He was wearing a black cloak witch also hid his face. With him came a wave of heat, as if he brought with him the heat of a vulcano.

Itachi clearly wasn't comfortable, staring at the figure with his eyes focused and a drop of sweat was visible on his forehead.

He tore his glance from the man and swung his sword at Sakura.

In a flash the figure moved thirty feet and blocked the attack reappearing in front of sakura, Itachi blinked surprised. But he had no time because he was thrown back ten feet at a twist of hand by his opponent. Landing flat out on the steel floor.

The man stood right in front of Sakura, with his back turned on her. She looked up, happiness and warmth came over her again, could it be? Would she survive and live on, see her friends and family again? Tears started to form in her eyes.

Itachi got up again and activated his sharingan. "And who may you be?" He asked.

"Your nemesis." Was the answer, in a whisper but sounding clear and strong.

Sakura sat up a little better, and found that she could now focus again. She studied the man standing in front of her, and her eyes grew wide of disbelief.

What she saw was what she had never even dared hoping to see again. The robes were black as the night, but on the back was a symbol, black on black but still visible.

The Uchiha mark.

It was like a little spark went trough her body, with huge impact. Her breath hesitated, her hart skipped a beat - could it be?

Again she felt the tears coming, but now she forced them to stay away, she had to see..

Itachi drew his sword, "Show me the your face! If you have got the nerve to tell me you're my nemesis you should have the courage to show me your face at least!" ,he didn't smile anymore. At this Itachi was dead serious, completely focused on the battle to come and already calculating the distance between them.

The killing intent was clearly visible on his face, the eagerness and the anger were so intense it would have got most jedi running.

But not this one, he stood there unaffected by this display. And replied in the same voice as before; "If you insist."

His hands went up to the hood, calm and steady they touched the black fabric and drew it back. Revealing the controlled face of Uchiha Sasuke, a little smile playing on his lips.

"Hi brother, long time no see."

Itachi's eyes grew wide, "You?" he hesitated for a second; "Well it was to be expected I'd see you again soon little brother, but this soon… and even protecting a weakling! You still don't get it do you?" At this Itachi smirked, but not releasing his tight grip on his sabre.

"You haven't even got mangekyo sharingan yet, I'm disappointed in you little brother."

"Don't be." Was the answer, "Instead of having our little chat why don't you try to finish off what you started. Why don't you become the last Uchiha?" Sasuke's smile faded. "And I thought I made it clear last time, to leave her out of this."

'_leave her out of this'? does he mean.. or, no, but if he does, or.. of course not, well, no!, but.. , no!, BUT WHAT IF! _Sakura tried to clear her mind, but she couldn't. She kept thinking of..

But then she was torn from her thoughts, for a while that is.

Itachi attacked.

Shifting forward and bringing his sword up for the first hit he flew across the room, coming at Sasuke in an instance.

But Sasuke paraded the attack with similar speed. He raised his sabre and deflected the stroke, quickly turning with Itachi blocking the second.

"Very good little brother, very good. It appears you have learnt something after all." Itachi said.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only reply, jumping over Itachi spinning and making him block six strokes.

Itachi turned, their sabres colliding. They broke up, both being thrown back several feet and immediately charged each other again.

The fight was going even faster then Kakashi's. Sakura couldn't follow their moves well but didn't dare to look away, fearing, hoping too much.

Now Sasuke came at Itachi, forcing him into defence. Top hit, swinging in from the right, left, left, up and full power stroke.

Itachi kneeled at the sword's impact, forced down and his face twisted with hatred. Eventually he found a way to parade and fended off the next attack. Rising he spoke again, a little out of breath, "So you have improved little brother, so you have.."

"When will you start fighting for real, Itachi?" Sasuke said, "you haven't used your sharingan to their full power yet. You cant win without, and you know that."

"I wont keep you waiting little brother",

Itachi closed his eyes and reopened them again, revealing the full power of the Uchiha clan, mangekyo sharingan.

Sasuke changed his stance for the coming attack. "come"

----

**That's it for now, hope you liked it. Next upload will be in a day or two.**

**ANBUszechuane**


	4. Chapter four

**Hey all. **

**Please enjoy the chapter, and review please! It's a huge motivation to get reviews!**

**ANBUszechuane**

-----

_Short recap:_

_Itachi closed his eyes and reopened them again, revealing the full power of the Uchiha clan, mangekyo sharingan._

_Changing his stance Sasuke prepared for the coming attack. "come"_

_End of recap._

And he came, swift and controlled. Sasuke saw him change from the moment Itachi closed his eyes.

Focused, efficient, using every bit of power to its full potential. This was a opponent to be reckoned with. This wasn't the warrior he had just seen anymore, he moved without making even the slightest bit of noise.

But this was what Sasuke had trained for since his childhood, this was what he had to do and nothing could change that.

Sasuke kicked off hard, meeting Itachi at equal speed.

Their swords struck right above their heads, the impact was calculated and aimed at striking again.

Sasuke threw his weight to the left while stabbing at Itachi.

Dodging his attack Itachi switched his sabre to his right hand and disappeared. Sasuke quickly turned just in time to see the attack coming. He immediately blasted his force at the ground giving it a left twist so that he jumped over the red ray of light.

The entire bridge filled with sparks every time their swords collided. Out of nowhere a lightning cracked trough the air missing barely missing Sasuke. Who speeded up and started to gather energy.

Itachi appeared behind him, disappearing again when Sasuke noticed, and reappearing above him so fast that even Sasuke's sharingan missed it.

Silent as the night the sabre came down and struck the young Uchiha at his shoulder, but not stopping there.

Sakura screamed, tried getting up and collapsed again.

Itachi cursed and in a flash Sasuke vanished.

"Missed me?" It came from behind him.

And there he was, unharmed.

"Foolish little brother, replications will only delay your death so why not get it over with?"

A grin, "Yeah, lets get it over with.", the reply appeared to have come out of nowhere.

"So there you are." Itachi whispered, and started running at a wall but turned to the right just before he hit it, sprinting forward and charging thin air with his sword.

Out of nowhere Sasuke appeared parading the attack and striking back fiercely.

But as Sakura saw, that even Sasuke was losing the fight. Itachi's moves were a little bit faster, constantly tightening the grip on Sasuke. He was being cornered.

With a amazing trick he got out of the tight spot, he let Itachi's sabre scratch him and while having the surprise effect he kicked off on Itachi himself and landed centre bridge, panting.

That was close, and Itachi knew it.

Sasuke touched his shoulder, and a wave of pain went trough his body. He needed to think of something, quick; _Ok, I cant beat him the normal way.. So maybe if I.. hey yeah, that might just work! _A slight smile was visible on his lips,

_If it works, he wont be able to counter. But if not.. well, then I'm not worth the name Uchiha anyway!_

Sasuke closed his eyes and stood up straight. Around him the air started to heat up, it started to rise and a strong wind blew trough the bridge from him.

Itachi could see him building up force, Sasuke was tapping off huge streams of force energy,

"damn.." he whispered; His eyes growing wide.

_Store, store, store, STORE!_ Went trough Sasuke's mind.

Most Jedi and Sith can call upon way more force then they can handle, their limit is the energy it costs to control it. But Sasuke had a plan, instead of directly using the power or storing it in the air before release he was circulating it trough his body.

Terrible pains went trough him, but he kept going; _There must be a way to, to control, to use!_

Itachi charged, making Sasuke open his eyes again and look around him in surprise, the air around him was emitting light. No! Hé was emitting light!

His sharingan started spinning, and he smiled. It had come to him in a flash.

"DIE!" Screamed Itachi, not being too cliché, when reaching his brother.

A flash of light and Sasuke vanished, leaving Itachi behind surprised.

"Now, lets end it." Sasuke was standing next to Sakura again. His sharingan spinning and his body lit by a bluish light. Electricity ran over his body. Tingling, streaming trough his body as if it were life itself.

He looked down at Sakura, and smiled faintly. And the next moment the two Uchiha brothers collided, Itachi almost lost his sabre at the impact of Sasuke's swing. And got knocked back several feet immediately followed by Sasuke.

A scream of pain, Itachi looked at his hand, now covered in blood, "You.. you hit me!"

"Yes I did" It came from behind him, and with a second flash Itachi lost his left hand and got thrown down to the floor.

Astonished he looked up into Sasuke's eyes, both glances beaming fire.

"Don't think ill let you have this victory brother, see you in hell." This was the last thing Itachi said, after witch he shifted to Sakura as fast as he could. The last thing he'd accept was losing to his little brother, and hatred consumed the last good part left in him.

His sabre cut trough the air, but never struck her.

In front of Sakura stood Sasuke, holding off Itachi's sword with his left hand. His hand concentration of lightning making a sound best described as a thousand bird's. And in his with his right hand holding his sabre, pinned trough Itachi's waist.

With a last burst of force Sasuke threw away Itachi's sabre and let his brothers body fall down.

Out of breath and feeling pain everywhere he sat down leaning against a panel, watching Sakura. "Hi"

Not to his surprise she didn't say anything. After a few moments he got up again, and walked over to her. "Let's get you back to Konoha then." He said with a tired voice and lifted her off the ground.

"Please, let me stay this time.." She whispered.

"But I cant treat your wounds, I cant help you." He replied, but not in his usual cold and distant voice. "You must get back to Konoha, or you won't make it to tomorrow."

"Please, please, don't leave me behind ag.." Her sentence was interrupted by her coughing up blood.

She watched him closely, was he worried?

-----

**That's it for now, hope you liked it.**

**Ill probably update in a couple of days, it might take a little longer due to school.**

**Please R&R!**

**ANBUszechuane**


	5. Chapter five

**Hey, sorry for the late update, was kind of busy and some not that happy things happened.**

**ANBUszechuane**

------

Sasuke watched her, she could barely stay conscious, she definitely had to get back to Konoha… The problem was how to get her there. Naruto and Kakashi were no help in the state they were in.

He sighted, _'well, it looks like I'm going back after all..'_, after which he got up and walked over to her.

"We're getting out of here." He said, lifting her off the ground and carried her into on of the escape pod's.

He went back to drop Kakashi and Naruto in it as well and helped Sakura get into a seat.

"Y-you, you are going to take us there?" She asked in disbelief.

A smile, "What else can I do, Kakashi is unconscious, and even if Naruto wasn't he still couldn't fly anyway. Besides, Itachi is dead so I'm not bound to anything anymore."

Sakura wanted to stay awake, stay with him, make sure he didn't leave her anymore. But now she felt a warm sleep coming over her, a safe feeling that made her glide away.

'_She's asleep, thank god. If she had stayed awake I'd have forced her to sleep, she must heal for god's sake!' _Sasuke thought, while he let the pneumatic particle dispenser rise slightly and then kicked in the main drive to launch the little pod into space. _'Wait a second, since when did I care about her? Yeah, I threatened Itachi to leave her alone because.. well, it was something I just had to.. oh damnit, what's wrong with me?' _

Racing trough the atmosphere he had no problems controlling the little craft, of course this changed a little when he entered Konoha airspace. Without any stealth or cloaking he was a sitting duck for the defences.

"Well then, lets see rather it really is as tough as they told me" He smiled, Uchiha Sasuke loved flying and kicked in any additional thrusters he could find.

'_Sorry guy's, I'm in a hurry so byebye'_

Activating artificial gravity again he blasted the little pod trough the air, with a megasonic wave he crossed Konoha's borders.

People glanced up wondering rather it was a meteor crashing down to earth, but then again, most people never saw Uchiha Sasuke fly (Although most people that insist on having seen a meteor probably have) so they couldn't know.

"Tsunade-samma, Tsunade-samma!!" One of the spotters came running into the Hokage tower.

"Don't you see I'm busy right now!" Tsunade replied irritated, distracted from her sudoku and now having lost the solution completely.

"But a Akatsuki escape pod is racing trough our defences!" He shouted.

This caught her attention; "WHAT IS PASSING OUR DEFENCES?!"

"Well, I just told u that a Akats-" Kiba tried again, but was interrupted by a grunt from Tsunade, "Don't answer that, it wasn't a real question."

They hurried outside and were just in time to see the little blue pod come crashing trough the trees, smoking at one side, but still capable of flying.

"What the bloody hell is that" She said, more to herself then to Kiba, because what she saw wasn't just as pod, it was a square, ugly, bluish and impractical looking escape pod that came crashing down near the town square.

Tsunade hurried towards the pod, when she arrived Jiraiya and a couple of Gennins were already there.

Sasuke glanced trough the window, "Damn, a welcomes-committee, just what I was waiting for."

He leaned back in his seat and looked around the small cabin.

Sakura was still asleep, just like Kakashi and Naruto. The rest of the cabin was plain white, with a locker in the corner, probably containing rations.

A crowd gathered round the odd little spaceship. What was it doing here, in the middle of Konoha? Was it the Sith that had breached their defences?

No, it looked more like a Akatsuki shuttle, well.. at least it looked as if it ónce looked like one.

Tsunade stared at the miserable heap of metal in total disbelief but regained control when she heard the doorlock click. Whoever it was that had piloted the thing all the way into Konoha was getting out.

And he did.

A shock went trough the crowd, and everyone fell silent, Jiraya's mouth fell open and Tsunade was frozen on the spot.

Out of the pod came Uchiha Sasuke, his clothing stained with blood and carrying Sakura in his arms.

Sasuke looked at the crowds, he recognised a couple of people, Tenten was there and Kiba as well.

'_They look as if they are seeing ghosts'_ he thought, and felt the urge to yell 'BOO!' at them if he hadn't had Sakura in his arms.

Thus he walked straight at Tsunade, who looked as amazed as the rest of the crowd.

"Yo" He almost sounded like Kakashi, but it at least got Tsunade back to reality.

"U-Uchiha Sasuke, what are, what.." She pointed at the unconscious Sakura.

Sasuke's face softened, "Ill explain later, now please help her."

'_Is he worried? He looks almost scared'_ Tsunade couldn't stop herself from wondering, _'Has he changed, the old Sasuke didn't bother about anything, and yet he looks so.. so caring almost.'_

"Come" She said, and led him trough the masses where now whispers started.

The ANBU team that just arrived cleared a path for them, looking at Sasuke in a combination of fear and adoration. This was the man who was said to be the bringer of balance to the force, the chosen one.

And why was he carrying a Jedi in his arms, wasn't he a Sith now? Their enemy? But then again, who cloud question the ways of a Uchiha?

Once in the Hokage tower more Jedi's joined them, escorting them, or better: escorting him.

When they reached Tsunade's quarters she ordered them to stand guard at the door and led Sasuke trough.

"Lay her down on that table, Uchiha." She said and so he did. "Now, can you tell me how this happened?"

Sasuke's face got dark as he spoke; "Itachi"

"So Kakashi lost, I knew he couldn't possibly win against that man but he was our only option." Tsunade spoke, while she opened a drawer and took out some medical equipment.

"Kakashi was already beaten when I arrived, and Naruto was knocked out cold as well. And luckily I could just stop him when.." Anger raged trough his body again, breaking his voice.

Tsunade couldn't stop herself from asking, "When?"

"When he signed his own death." He replied, and before she could ask how he continued; "He should have left her alone, and when he was lost he still tried to.." Again his voice broke.

Now Tsunade asked him to stand back, and placed her hands on Sakura's injuries. A bright green light shot out of them, and a pleasant warmth spread trough the room.

"Ok, bandage please." And for the next two hours Sasuke assisted Tsunade in healing Sakura, carefully asking how she was doing every ten minutes.

----------

**That's it for now, ill update a lil quicker next time.**

**Please revieuw!**

**ANBUszechuane**


	6. Chapter six

**This isn't the last chapter, but I wont update as often as I did cuz Im also writing an other fanfic which is consuming most of my spare time though it isn't on the internet yet.**

**ANBUszechuane**

------

After several hours Tsunade sent Sasuke away and cleaned Sakura up, before placing her in a spare bed to rest.

Sasuke was standing in the hall when she came out of her quarters. "Is she going to make it?"

Still wondering how he could have changed so much Tsunade smiled, "Yes, definitely," and she sighted tired before she continued; "But you're a problem still, you know that don't you?"

He looked into her eyes, "Am not, there is no one here that could face me, even your Yedi are scared." His eyes hardened again, this was the old Sasuke again, cold and controlled.

Tsunade doubted rather he could beat her and Jiraiya together but didn't continue on the subject. He damn well knew he couldn't get out of Konoha now, and besides, from what she had just seen he wouldn't leave Sakura in a state like this anyway.

Thus she just called two ANBU to bring him to the sleeping quarters and guard him there.

Half way there, walking trough the corridors they met a worn looking Naruto and Kakashi, of who the first one's mouth fell open. Of course not for long, because shouting also takes articulation.

"s-S-SASUKE-TEME!" He started, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

The reply came in the usual calm way, "Hn" Of course, this didn't satisfy Naruto much, but Kakashi foresaw the second round of shouting and pulled them both into Iruka's Ramen.

Now that Naruto was a little more peaceful Kakashi looked up from his own bowl, and started what was going to be a hard conversation.

"So Sasuke, I know you probably don't like to talk about anything, but still.. You knew Itachi was on that cruiser, didn't you?"

As reply he only got a "Hn."

"Ok, did you know we were there as well?"

Sasuke put down his own bowl and looked up; "No, but I expected you two to be there, since Sakura was."

Kakashi blinked; "Sakura? How did you know?"

"When faced Itachi about a year ago I couldn't beat him yet, but nor could he win anymore. Because of this he started threatening to kill everyone I knew, including you guys." Sasuke took a nip of his drink before he continued; "Eventually he also mentioned Sakura, and I sort of.. lost my temper.."

He fell silent.

All the time Kakashi and Naruto had listened in silence, amazed that Sasuke actually spoke about this in the first place.

Now it was Kakashi who spoke, "So Sakura's hopes weren't based on nothing to be short?"

"Hn" Was Sasuke's careful reply, clearly aware that he already said more than he had planned to, and now was retreating again.

"What hopes?" Naruto entered the conversation.

A pond from Kakashi.

"AUCH!" Naruto left the conversation.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to Sasuke." Kakashi continued. "But at least tell me what happened on the cruiser."

"You wouldn't understand if I don't tell you the whole story, and now that Itachi is gone its probably the best thing to do."

'_Now that Itachi is gone… has he…has he actually brought Itachi down?' _Went trough Kakashi's mind. _'Can it be… are we finally free from that man?'_

Sasuke continued; "Itachi of course noticed that I got mad when he called out her name. He was probably as surprised as I was.. But now he knew something I couldn't secure, he knew a weakness. Still confused I made a deal with him, I would stop hunting him if he left her alone and wouldn't harm or get her harmed by others."

He paused for a second, before he continued again; "When I left for Orochimaru this was to ensure that I would be capable of killing him if he broke his promise.

Two days ago I heard he had set foot at Fire country, of course Konoha couldn't tolerate this and would send Yedi to solve the conflict as quickly as they could. A quick check with a friend told me that Sakura had been assigned on this mission."

"Who was this friend?" Kakashi informed friendly, wondering who it could be that told secrets like this to the Sith.

"Hyuuga Neji, I respected him enough to entrust him with the problem and asked him to tell me about every situation Sakura would be sent out on. Also, working with Neji had the advantage that no one would suspect him for we always had some kind of silent argument."

Sasuke didn't mind telling him that, Neji wouldn't get into trouble because all he did was help protect a fellow Yedi.

Sasuke looked down at the table when he spoke again;

"But please let me continue, now that I started it I'd like to finish the story as well. When Neji told me Sakura was sent out to stop 'Kabuto' from taking over a part of Fire country I matched it with Sith intell that told me Akatsuki was moving into a area near that. It could only be the same threat, there was only one battle cruiser and that was Akatsuki's.

So Sakura, and by that, you guys as well, were sent into a death-trap for you couldn't possibly beat Itachi in his own spaceship." He glanced up to see rather Kakashi and Naruto were still listening and continued when assured; "I stole a lightning-glider and raced over to that cruiser, arriving just in time to see you two lying flat out, beaten up, aside and Itachi stopped his sabre about a inch from her face when he saw me. Again anger took control of me and told me there was nothing I could do accept for killing him, or dying. And so I entered battle, a battle I had trained for all my life and one I could never afford to lose, because it wasn't only my life at stake."

"And you won, didn't you?" Kakashi said with a quiet voice. "You wouldn't have run away even if you could have, not because you had to kill him, but also because of Sakura."

Sasuke nodded, and, with a sigh, resumed to finish the story. "I managed to hit him lightly a couple of times, even when we were fighting on full strength and eventually got him down on his knees. At this point the same blind anger took control of him as last time, and he charged Sakura who was sitting aside, injured. I killed him, blocking his sword with my hand."

Kakashi looked at Sasuke in awe. "You blocked his sword with your bare hand?!"

"Hn, it was a little harder than that. I was able to beat Itachi by finding a way to store huge quantities of force, and using this power to enhance my movements and abilities. When he charged Sakura I could only reach his sword in time with my hand and released all the energy I had left into that hand. This stopped his sabre and left my hand unharmed, I still don't know how I did it. It came as he tried.."

Already seeing it coming Kakashi interrupted him, "I think this could clear you from most of the charges when you face court, which must be done after all that has happened."

"They'll clear him for sure!" Naruto said, now daring to re-enter the conversation after his painful last attempt.

Sasuke smiled; "Thanks Naruto, somehow I never doubted you'd be a good friend to have. But I guess I haven't been one myself, sorry for that."

"That's ok Sasuke, as long as you don't leave again. It'd break Sakura's heart and she wont recover from it twice, I wont let you do that!"

Kakashi sighted, and shielded his eyes, how could he be thát shallow?! But Sasuke merely smiled. _'In his own way he's not that bad, just needs to get a little smarter, but hey, he has time."_

----------

**Sorry for the late update, and also for the long story, but it'd be too easy to write down something like "And he told them the story", besides, this explains the storyline.**

**ANBUszechuane**


	7. Chapter seven

**Hey, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter.**

**Please R&R!**

**ANBUszechuane**

--------

Sasuke's trial started the day after and was held in a large dome, with tribunes almost all round the centered court.

Everyone in Konoha that was able to come was there, including Kakashi and Naruto. The last one yelling things like 'HES INNOCENT!' and 'FREE OF CHARGE!' fiercely.

Several minutes later they had arrived the judges entered. Jiraiya, Iruka and a unfamiliar man, named Kindo who was replacing Tsunade who was still at the hospital.

Jiraiya raised his hands and called out for silence and when everyone was paying attention he started the trial.

"Very well, now that all the people concerned are here, and also a awful lot that aren't, we can start the trial of Uchiha Sasuke. The charges are high treason and offending of the state Konoha."

Now Iruka stood up and spoke; "You are allowed to have a assistant or friend to help you in this trial, who will it be Uchiha?"

"I'm his assistant." Neji spoke loud and clear so that everyone could hear him.

"You, Hyuuga Neji?" Iruka asked surprised; "Forgive me for saying this, but didn't you have a hostile rivalry with the Uchiha, and didn't you think about him as a honourless man?"

"That we were rivals shows mutual respect, and yes, I didn't like him but when I heard what happened and he asked me for help I started to understand his position. And now I'm honoured to be counted for as one of his friends."

Sasuke smiled, again, this was happening a lot since he had returned. Maybe he was changing, but it didn't matter, it was better this way.

The trial lasted for over a hour, by then the judges had heard all stories and since the charges were based on Sasuke harming Konoha, which he didn't, they managed to clear him of any punishment. Although he had to accompanied by a ANBU or other qualified individual for the first two months.

Sasuke and Neji got a loud applause when they left the court, and it took them five minutes to get away from them.

"Thanks Neji, I owe you one, or more actually."

"Ah, don't mind, that's what friends do. O, Sasuke, I need to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You seem to know that Naruto guy pretty well, what kind of guy is he?"

"What do you mean? I'd trust him alright, and he's honest, and a little shallow but he's a good friend to have."

"Ok, then it's all right, he's dating my cousin you know, and I just wanted to know something about him."

They headed to the hospital, 'to tell Tsunade about the outcome of the trial' as Sasuke told Neji, but lying to a Byakugan user isn't the best thing you can do. Neji didn't mind though, if that was how Sasuke coped with it, he'd let him do so.

They arrived at the hospital about five minutes later and asked where they could find Tsunade.

"Sixth floor, room seventy-three but its off limits to civilians, so only if you have a level four clearance you're allowed to go there."

"Do you Neji?" Sasuke asked, and Neji held his ID against the scanner for an answer.

'Granted' The machine replied and Neji smirked. "Yedi clearance, Im allowed to go anywhere I want, which comes out handy when you need it."

They stopped at the door to knock, and when they heard Tsunade yell 'Come in' they entered.

Sakura was still unconscious but looked a lot better then before. Tsunade looked awfully tired, she probably had been working trough the night.

"Hey, why are you two here? Weren't you supposed to be in court right now?"

Sasuke replied with a grin; "Why should I be in court when I'm cleared of the charges?"

By then Neji took a look at his watch. "Hey Sasuke, I've got to go so I'll just leave you here with Tsunade because I've to go and pick Tenten up, so see you later." Neji said and walked back trough the door.

When the door closed Tsunade and Sasuke remained silent, watching Sakura breath lightly.

Until after a while Tsunade spoke; "I heard what happened by Kakashi… about what happened on board the ship. He said that if I had any questions I should ask you, not him."

Sasuke kept looking at Sakura and answered a little uncertain; "What did he tell you?"

"Just what happened on board the cruiser, he was reluctant to tell more, in that he's like you. Always loyal to friends and himself."

Sasuke told her most of the story he had told Kakashi and Naruto the day before. As hokage she had to know, and she'd probably get it out of Kakashi anyway, this was more like a formality to see rather he was willing to tell it himself.

Sakura was recovering well but remained asleep until her vitals were fully recovered, Tsunade didn't want to take any risks after a fight with Itachi.

When Sasuke woke up four days after the trial he immediately noticed something was wrong, tension was present in the cold morning air. Evil was on the move, and it wasn't far away.

'_Its probably Orochimaru or one of his followers looking for me. By now he will know that I wont come back, so he'll probably try to kill me.'_ He sat up right in his bed, thinking about what would happen next.

'_He probably assumes I'm still injured from the fight with Itachi, so he will start looking at the hospital. Wait, Sakura! If anything they wont let a injured Yedi live!'_ His eyes turned deep red again and energy surged trough him again. Now that he had used it once, it had become easy to reactivate. He didn't care about calling Neji or Naruto, the only thing now was to get to the hospital as quick as possible.

Kabuto stopped and looked to his left, a huge power had just awaken. He looked over to Orochimaru at his right who had clearly felt it as well.

"Quicken up your pace, Kabuto, probably Jiraiya has awoken. We need to fulfil our mission quickly before we are detected."

Kabuto nodded and increased his pace, several moments later they reached the hospital.

The two of them walked trough the corridors, sensing for presence of the force. Orochimaru stopped at a door labelled seventy-two; "Kabuto, I think he's in here, I feel a weakened presence of the force in here, clearly Itachi has put up a fight."

"That makes it a lot easier for us." Smirked Kabuto as they silently opened the door.

-------

**In the next chapter there will be more action again for those who like it. The serenity ends there.**

**The next one is probably the second last chapter.**

**ANBUszechuane**


	8. Chapter eight final chapter

**Sorry for not uploading in a while, something unexpected happened (like it always does) and I really didn't have the time to continue writing.**** After that I just forgot it for a while until now.**

**M (Yeah, that's new)**

-----------

The door swung open, and in front of them lay a person in bed. Kabuto cursed, "Damn, its someone else. Lets get out of here." But Orochimaru recognised the pink hair.

"Wait Kabuto, this is a Yedi, called Haruno Sakura if I remember it correctly. Kill her first so that we don't have to do it later."

Kabuto turned around and pulled a knife out of his pocket. "Lets not make a mess of things, better a knife then a lightsabre, right sensei?"

When Orochimaru nodded he walked over to the bed.

A voice spoke, in a ice cold tone loaded with controlled hatred. "Who told you that you could do that?"

Both of the Sith turned around as if they were struck by lightning. Kabuto dropped the knife from the shock but Orochimaru immediately took out his sabre and was ready to attack.

In the deep shadows, next to the door there was a figure.

"I expected you to try a foul act, but don't touch hér, Orochimaru."

"So you survived, Uchiha Sasuke. How does it feel that the Uchiha blood ends here? Maybe you should have left Itachi alive, to secure the survival of your clan?"

Kabuto brought his hand to the heft of his sabre very, very slowly, and when his fingers touched the cold metal Sasuke moved.

"Did you think I would let you do that?" It came from behind, and before Kabuto could even turn around his body was already cut in half. It happened so fast Orochimaru couldn't stop it and made him watch his follower collapse.

Sasuke had seen Kabuto's movement and at the moment his fingers touched the sabre he used the millisecond of delay to throw himself forward with the force. Someone like Kabuto, with his limited control of the force could never have felt it coming.

Sasuke then immediately flung his saber at Orochimaru, forcing him out of the room. If they had to fight somewhere, it'd better be outside the hospital. The narrow spaces and of course the injured people were hard to maneuver about.

They ran trough the corridors in the direction of the stairs, constantly stabbing at each other's feet. Orochimaru reached them first and kicked open the door, quickly ducking after that when Sasuke's saber swung trough the opened door, and missed him about one inch.

In a second Orochimaru was up the stairs and threw a fragmentation shell back down.

Sasuke spotted it and ducked, turned with his back to the staircase, and made a backwards jump wile focusing on stopping the shrapnel with his saber.

The shell detonated about seven feet away from him and instantly filled the whole corridor with a rain of scrap metal pieces breaking every window and triggering the alarm.

The Uchiha landed with his back to Orochimaru on the rail upstairs quickly turning the saber so that it covered his back and he immediately felt the punch Orochimarus gave on his. They fought like that for several moments before Sasuke managed to turn around and jump down from the rail.

_So close.. Wait, maybe that will work. _

Sasuke thought and started carving into the metal door they stood next to but not making it too obvious what he was doing. Then, as Orochimaru leaped forward Sasuke turned on the row of old electro magnetic particle aligners on their right with force. In a spur half of the machines activated and with the force of several metric tons they sucked the shrap metal from the door towards them.

Orochimaru just happened to stand in between and was caught in the crossfire. At Sasukes sudden movement he had turned to the right awaiting a drawn object but only too late did he realize that the danger actually came from the left.

Blocking the shrapnel Orochimaru had also Sasuke to fight and for that he had to let several shards pass which struck him in his chest and arms.

The sudden fear of death struck him, but he only realized how real it was when Guy and Tsunade entered sensing range. He, Orochimaru, had been trapped like a mouse and that because of his very own student. Cursing under his breath he did the last thing he could before he would faint from blood loss and go into a life of interrogation and prisons.

Orochimaru hit the detonator of his suit and disappeared into a blaze of white hot flames. Sasuke could only watch as the snake eyes were digested by the flames, leaving nothing more then small remains of human and the saber that he had just held.

It all went so fast, but then again, that's how fights on this level go. One wrong move can and most probably will cost you your life. Tsunade managed to identify the smothering remains as the former Sithlord Orochimaru and after an post mortem they found the cause of death to be his thermite inlayed clothing. The detonator was connected to the only direct activation system it had, meaning only he could activate it and not, per example, a lightsaber.

By then Sasuke had already written out his story and had that confirmed by the security cameras making him a free man yet again.

After a quick visit to the Hokage's tower and the destroying of the sith's lightsaber he headed back to the Uchiha district that they hadn't dared to touch while he and Itachi were out there and was still his. A quick shower and a bowl of ramen later Sasuke headed back to the hospital.

Arriving just in time to see Sakura awake and she didn't let him leave for the rest of the day, making him promise to return the following morning.

To everyone's surprise, he did.

**I didn't think I'd end it like this but the other stories I'm writing probably wont allow me to finish this the way I wanted to anyway, lack of time.**

**R&R, and if you like, please visit my other stories as well, they're probably a lot better then this one.**

**M**


End file.
